From Our Community

1 Image

“Huh. Wow.
Steeping this for 2 minutes at 195F gives me delightful honey flavour and no bad stuff.
I like it! Plain!! (I better like it. I have an other 50g bag sitting in the...”
Read full tasting note

“1TB for 450mL water. 6 minute steep, 98C water. Rating: 95.
Yum. I wasn’t expecting this to live up to the hype, but yeah, it’s really nice. A bit Darjeeling-y, which is not...”
Read full tasting note

“Very first order of the agenda here, can we all please agree that the country is called NEpal and that there is no such country as NApal? Thank you. This seems a common error, and some people do it...”
Read full tasting note

“Ever have one of those tea days where nothing goes as planned? not a disaster exactly, just not what you expected.
That was today. See, I had planned to bring in one of the many samples I received...”
Read full tasting note

From DAVIDsTEA

Take you higher

There are good things brewing in the Highlands of Nepal. Like this hand-made black tea, from a small family-owned tea garden named Jun Chiyabari. From the first sip you’ll notice its rich, sweet, honey-like flavour. What doesn’t come through in the cup is how much good this little tea garden does. They’ve set up a ton of amazing community programs to benefit local schools, underprivileged families, and the elderly. This particular tea is a DAVIDsTEA exclusive – now that’s a good thing. (MK Kosher)

Yum. I wasn’t expecting this to live up to the hype, but yeah, it’s really nice. A bit Darjeeling-y, which is not a surprise, given that the tea comes from Nepal. But’s it’s not a Darjeeling. This tea has a slight woody tang but no serious astringency. The mouthfeel and body remind me of Yunnan rather than any of the India teas. Sweet notes, too.

Very first order of the agenda here, can we all please agree that the country is called NEpal and that there is no such country as NApal? Thank you. This seems a common error, and some people do it with such consistency that it can’t be a typo. NEpal. (Sorry, but it bothers me. I can usually overlook this sort of thing, but certain mistakes just jars the eye. Same with the whole palate/pallet/palette thing. (Hint, on Steepster I can with 99.9% certainty guarantee that you want ‘palate’))

Secondly, Fleurdelily shared this one with me, and I’ve been slightly afraid to try it. I’ve tried a couple of Nepalese blacks before and found them quite Darjeeling-y. But then I seemed to see a lot of good things said about it on Steepster. Claire even had a discussion board subject. So I decided it must be time to be brave.

The leaf doesn’t look like Darjeeling and it doesn’t really smell like it either, although there is a certain note of that Darjeelingesque grassy floralness.

After brewing it smells quite flora, but not in a sharp, pointy way like Darjeeling. There is a sweet, slightly malty note and also a touch of something that reminds me of raisins and other dried fruits. It’s kind of like a much milder version of Assam, rather than Darjeeling-y.

The Darjeeling-y note is there in the flavour as well, but honestly, I would have been surprised if it wasn’t. It’s not as unpleasant as I find it to be in Darjeeling, though. In Darjeeling it’s sort of stabby and pointy and gives me a funky, sour aftertaste, but there’s none of that here. Again it’s mostly like a milder version of Assam with Darjeeling aspects mixed in.

Dooars! That’s what it reminds me of the most.

If you enjoy this, try if you can find something from the Dooars region, and vice versa. Where Dooars leans more towards Darjeeling than Assam, this is sort of leaning in the opposite direction, but it’s still giving me that same feeling of middle-ness.

It’s not my ideal tea (being not Chinese, really) but I’m enjoying it much more than I had expected I would. Very interesting

Sometimes I find it disturbing that I, as an ESL, can be so irritated by it sometimes. I try to remember that I don’t usually know anything about the other person and that they might have a genuine difficulty with spelling and such things, but sometimes…! (I’ve come to the conclusion lately that it’s because I’m ESL that things I know to be wrong can bother me so much. If you lot can’t even work it out, it becomes even harder for me to learn!)

Claire, I hope you can find some. It shouldn’t be impossible, I’ve seen them around a few times.

Roughage, I saw. I think it should definitely be possible. I shall run it through Husband tomorrow as well if he wants to join. I don’t want to disturb him now, as he’s watching something on tv. Warning, though, we’re both fairly shy people, so awkward silences may occur as we flounder for something to say. :) And if you (try to) teach me to say your name, I’ll (try to) teach you to say mine. ;)

Actually, I could do with working on my Danish because my nephew mostly speaks it and I only really speak Norwegian fluently, which makes communicating with him interesting. As for awkward silences, I am fine with that. We can sip our tea appreciatively and be companionable rather than chatty. I am not the world’s most outgoing person either!

haha, good point with that. When working in the art field it’s very common (more like second language, hehe) to use art terms such as ‘palette’. Thank you for reminding of the other option, makes my writing much more interesting. For an ESL person new words are always a treat.

Ever have one of those tea days where nothing goes as planned? not a disaster exactly, just not what you expected.
That was today. See, I had planned to bring in one of the many samples I received yesterday… only to find myself running late and of course entirely forgetting the tea on my dresser. No biggie, I figured… I needed to run an errand for work that took me by the Tea Dynasty. I rarely get to stop in there, what a treat! except when I swung by, guess what?!? they were closed. Oh right, they are a retail business and not in the core financial district. Of course they are closed, until 11am!!
Anyhow, by this point I was desperately craving tea. ANYTEA! Having been promised some and denied twice, I was rather thirsty! and that’s how I ended up at David’s, the closest shop to my work.
Needless to say, this was a bit of a letdown. Malty, sure. Even a little honeyed. And smokey?!? Did I taste that right… how odd. Is it just me? has anyone else noticed anything even remotely like that? nobody looked at me oddly, so I doubt there were any seizures involved. Maybe it was the tiny bit of agave I added. Or aliens. They planted the smoke. yes, that’s it :)
Ah well. What can ya do…

Daniel: right?! I’ll have to ask them about it next time I stop by.
SimpliciTea: thanks! I tend to put too much narrative, not enough tea talk in my reviews… but I can’t help it! lol
Ninavampi: Indeed! what else could it be… I only wish the aliens would introduce themselves. I’m sure we’d have a lovely tea party :P

Definitely not too much narrative. One of the reasons I like reading reviews and responding to discussions is to engage on all topics, tea related or not. I also laughed at the alien reference. Picturing you and aliens having a tea party is a hoot! : )

Yeah, I only got 10 g too. I was meeting my wife at DavidsTea and pretty much sniffing everything I haven’t tried yet. But I think this is definitely one to replace for us…its rare for us to find a tea we both really enjoy.

I bought 50g of this one when it first came out. The smell was so great. And the girl had trouble closing the bag so I figured it would be ok for awhile and it is permanent. I really enjoy this one and can see it being a regular come winter.

Continuing my black tea a day experiment. This was the tea I took to work today.
This is more my style. This isn’t perfect, I’ve had better black teas than this, but it is more in the style I like. It’s bolder, deeper, maltier, than the darjeeling that I had yesterday, I didn’t really get any of the astringency – maybe just a hint but that could be bad steeping (I was at work). I still feel let down by this tea, it just doesn’t got far enough. I would say it’s about half way between the darjeeling I had yesterday and something like Laoshan Black. It’s just not dark enough, I was looking for the hints of cocoa and just couldn’t quite find them (not sure if they were really there or if it was wishful thinking). This did resteep pretty well. I got a solid 3 western style steeps, added a bit more leaf and got two more. That’s pretty good in my world. All in all this is ok, I will drink it, but the search continues…..

Not sure if you’re looking for a deep black tea experience with Nepali Tea, but in my limited tastings they are similar to darjeelings with some spectacular exceptions. Few have the potato, malty, cocoa deep flavor you hint at. Nepali Tea Trader’s Himalayan Gold is a good Black Tea.

Hi Bonnie, that’s not good news. Here I thought I was being smarty trying to learn about the different types of blacks and you think this isn’t a “classic” nepal black. LOL how am I suppose to narrow my search……..

What are you looking for? There’s usually one or two people at least who know a lot about certain tea’s. (I’m not very knowledgeable for instance about Japanese Green Tea or Korean TEA or Darjeeling extensively).
My ‘thing’ has narrowed to Chinese black teas, puerh included… some Nepalese and a growing interest in a few African black tea’s. I do like a few Darjeeling and white tea’s and some green tea’s. I have a variety of Oolongs.
There is a long story about Nepalese tea because only recently have we been able to buy it. Wars prevented tea from being sold outside Nepal. However, tea was easily moved across the border, sold cheaply and mixed with darjeeling and sold at higher prices as Darjeeling tea. I know some people who are helping tea farmers sell their tea and it’s a labor of love. You can get a selection of samples from the tea company I mentioned. They are a non-profit so I don’t mind plugging them at all!

Thanks Bonnie. I jumped right into the deep end of black teas without learning how to swim first. I don’t know anything. I have and have tried several “popular” black teas, but I don’t know anything about them. I decided to take a step back and learn some basics (or so I thought). I bought an Assam, a darjeeling, a Yunnan, a Kenyan, and this Nepal from Davids to try and learn what the specific teas taste like. I had commented that this wasn’t like darjeeling, and you said Nepal teas are usually like them. Now I’m rethinking my plan. If this isn’t a typical Nepal, how do I know if the others are “typical” of their types.
I love this site and lots of people are helpful. Ifjuly has been giving me some advice on my note about Second Flush Darjeeling from Davids – the tasting note before this one on my log. I was just trying to narrow “what I liked” before I went out and bought a 100 black teas at random.

That’s what I have been doing also (reading the top reviews) and then deciding what I may like to try.
When I had this tea yesterday, I only re-steeped once – I’ll have to try more next time. I do have a cup in the fridge to drink cold later though.

One of the things I love about tea is the uniqueness of every cup. I can say I love Assams for example, but it’s such a generalized statement because they don’t all taste the same, whether it’s because of the soil they were grown in, the weather that year, the slight difference in processing techniques, or whatever. Just like snowflakes or fingerprints. That’s why I’m on a lifelong quest to sample ALL of the TEAS!!! Especially all the black ones!

I’ve been wanting to try a black tea from Nepal for awhile now, so I had to pick this up first at Davids today.

The leaves are long, wiry, and slightly curled with some golden tips. The aroma of the dry leaves is beautiful – full of malt and cocoa. While brewing the leaves unfurl to nearly three times their size, and turn a light brown color. This is a neat one to watch steep.
The flavor is spot on for me. Lots of malt, cocoa, and a hint of honey-like sweetness at the end. For some reason I thought this would be like a darjeeling, but it’s much more “robust” than that. I really like this!
We had a long day of running errands and ended up held up by a problem with the MUNI system for awhile, and I very much wanted a Decent Cup of Tea by the time I got home. This did the trick. :)

Preparation

This one is another of my 10g purchase and I think I just might go back for more of this one!!

I also noticed this would be a pretty one to watch unfurl (or steep) in a glass bodum or clear glass tea pot as the leaves really open up as they steep. I should mention I almost passed on purchasing some of this because it had that mouldy grass scent that makes my stomach go BLECK and my face to pinch, but after a second sniff, I realised it was more sweet than mouldy.

Steeped it makes me think of orange pekoe in a way and I want to add cream to it and curl up with a book rather than go to work this morning. But alas one must do just that.

There is an astringency that I am learning to notice and it is not overly unpleasant, this is defiantly a tea that is going on the “Must buy more of” list, but I have to make it through all these other teas I have first.

Hello, my name is Erin, and I have a compulsive tea purchasing habit, it has been merely 12hrs since I last purchased tea…

How about we call the group T.E.A. – tea enthusiasts anonymous. And we HAVE to serve tea at the meetings :)

Now about this Nepal tea, tell me, does it taste a little bit like a Darjeeling? I bought a Nepalese tea (different vendor) and it was very similar in character to a Darjeeling. Sadly, I don’t like Darjeeling, and so this tea was not for me.

I had been intrigued by the idea of Nepalese tea, and was so glad when Angrboda sent me some in a swap (I have an embarassment of riches of swaps to try. It´s a lovely feeling, except am trying to be good about too much caffeine.. the pains of too many new so-delicious seeming teas to pick. Thank you Angrboda! Nothing is forgotten and unappreciated even if I take my time to pick it).

This is very interesting – it´s like an Assam on a few things (malty! astringency), but a bit “rounder”. It is a little bit “hay”-like Darjeeling style, but not quite. I don´t get any honey notes, but I get a raisin sort of quality which seems Muscat. It is sort of sweet. The dry leaf had aniseed like notes, but nobody seems to have spotted anything like that, so it is possible I am imagining it – I don´t get it on the liquour anyway. So at the same malty and muscaty, which is interesting and good.

I brew it wrong, I think I used too much leaf or water too hot, it turned out a little bit too astringent for me – but still drinkable which would not have happened with an Assam.

I definitely want to explore more Nepal teas even if this particular one might not be the “one” for me.

PS – it is better with some milk and sugar. I am not usually a milk and sugar person but this is a milk and sugar tea.

Ysaurella, I have to remember that sometimes – it is not my default mode admittedly. I had the most wonderful surprise with one of my standard rooibos lately, with milk and sugar became a sort of amazing milk shake thing!

Mercuryhime, did not know it was pricey though! I have been stalking a particular Nepal tea from Theodor which is(was) quite moderately priced (around 7 euros for 100 grams) but it is sold out – OTOH I will probably only do the Theodor order I have been planning next Autumn. 9.50 canadian dollars (or is it canadian) for 50 grams of this is a lot I think.

Maybe too reasonably priced, it´s been sold out for months! Only in tins and Theodor tins are NOT reasonably priced (20 euros, no matter the tea, except some more expensive teas which are higher). I am afraid that when it gets back on stock it will be more expensive, like they did with their sublime Milky Oolong which is now quite a bit more than it used to be. Though I just might be fool enough to rebuy that…

I had this lovely tea on the ferry to the mainland. My feet will touch real mainland shortly!
I was very happy with this tea as I could steep it for a long time (aka forget about it for 10 min) without it going bitter. It was deliciously malty and sweet with a creamy edge on the third steep. I really enjoyed this as an easy black tea for on the go. I don’t have to worry about it… Put the water in and forget without consequence. So glad I picked this tea up

My trip was fantastic thank you! I have been running around busy busy with event planning and bbq’s.. oh my! Today I will actually be able to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea. I haven’t done that in a while!

Awww! The tea trade-off. I know it well. If only the whole world was accustomed to having a tea session at least once in the day. That way it would be the best of both worlds as you could then easily share it with your nephew.

I do occasionally. He likes Red Rose, & I’m going to review a tea he liked later, but he is no where near the tea drinker I am. He’s only in town another week so my tea reviews will not be as important right now.

Haha it’s okay. Summer can be so busy for everyone – but students especially (maybe it’s just me.. but that’s my only ‘downtime’).
Nepal black is quite delicious. Definitely a black I will want to keep on hand for school as it tastes amazing no matter what (it’s yet to go bitter on me… Terrah!) I hope your trip to the mainland was absolutely fantastic!